Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: Grim Grimoire (OLD!)

[Eternal]

With FFVI Hardtype done and out of the way, I have decided to work on another secondary project I've been brewing for months, which can now come to fruition thanks to Darthatron's help and his latest tools. Though there is not a skill/item editor out yet, I've made changes to many jobs which will hopefully cause them to be a bit more balanced. Further, I've heavily buffed monsters and removed the Ultima abilties from all jobs except Nu Mou, making Ultima their special little skill. The proposed changelog is below, and will be added to as more functionality is included with Darth's tools.

Everyone, I would like you all to pitch in with ideas for this patch, and to send massive thanks to Darthatron for his hard work here. He's also working alongside me on this, so your suggestions may help him with his tools as well.

The general premise of this patch is to rebalance jobs and add some difficulty to an overall easy game, while adding some features that people have yearned for for years now, such as removed Laws, and less saturated graphics.

spoiler: FFTA GG Changelog

HUMES

Soldier HP, DEF, and SPD have been decreased.
Paladin ATK and MP has been decreased.
Paladin HP has been increased.
Fighter HP and DEF have been decreased.
Ninja HP, ATK, DEF, PWR, and RST has been decreased.
White Mages can now use Maces.
Black Mages can now use Knives.
Black Mage DEF has been increased.
Illusionist PWR has been decreased.
Blue Mage ATK, PWR, and RST have been decreased.
Hunters can now use Knives.
Hunter RST and SPD have been decreased.
Hunters lose Ultima Shot, gain Conceal.

BANGAA

Warrior MP, PWR, and EVD have been decreased.
Dragoon HP and EVD have been increased.
Defender ATK and PWR have been decreased.
Defender HP and DEF have been increased.
Gladiator MP, PWR, and SPD have been decreased.
Gladiators lose Ultima Sword, gain Holy Blade.
Bishop PWR and SPD have been increased.
Templar RST and EVD have been decreased.
Templar DEF has been increased.

NU MOU

White Mages can now use Maces.
Black Mages can now use Knives.
Illusionist PWR has been decreased.
Alchemist PWR has been decreased.
Beastmasters can now use Bows.
Ultima Blow has been renamed Ultima.
Sage MP and PWR have been decreased.

VIERA

Elementalist ATK has been decreased.
Red Mage PWR and EVD have been decreased.
White Mages can now use Maces.
Summoners can now use Rods.
Summoner PWR has been decreased.
Assassin MP, ATK, PWR, JMP, and EVD have been decreased.
Assassins lose Ultima Masher, gain Wood Veil.
Sniper DEF, RST, MVE, and EVD have been decreased.
Sniper JMP has been increased.

MOOGLE

Mog Knight ATK has been decreased.
Mog Knights lose Ultima Charge, gain Revive.
Gunner EVD has been decreased.
Juggler DEF has been decreased.
Gadgeteer JMP has been increased.
Time Mage SPD and EVD have been increased.

MONSTERS

Monsters have highly bolstered HP.

Goblins lose Counter, gain Block Arrows.
Goblins are now Weak: Ice, Halve: Wind.
Red Caps lose Block Arrows, gain Strikeback.
Red Caps are now Weak: Ice, Halve: Wind.

Jellies lose Counter, gain Absorb MP.
Ice Flan lose Block Arrows and Weapon Atk+, gain Auto-Regen and Turbo MP.
Creams lose Reflex and gain Return Magic.

Bombs lose Counter, gain Last Quicken.
Bombs are now Weak: Water, Absorb: Fire.
Grenades lose Block Arrows, gain Last Haste.

Icedrakes lose Counter, gain Dragonheart.
Icedrakes are now Immune: Ice, Water.
Firewyrms lose Block Arrows and Weapon Atk+, gain Dragonheart and Geomancy.
Firewyrms are now Immune: Fire, Earth.
Thundrakes lose Reflex and Geomancy, gain Dragonheart and Concentrate.
Thundrakes are now Immune: Thunder, Wind.

Lamias are now Halve: Fire, Ice, Thunder, Dark.
Liliths lose Block Arrows, gain Damage > MP.
Liliths are now Halve: Water, Earth, Wind, Holy.

Antlions lose Counter and Weapon Def+, gain Bonecrusher and Concentrate.
Antlions are now Absorb: Earth, Weak: Water.
Jawbreakers lose Block Arrows, gain Strikeback.
Jawbreakers are now Absorb: Earth, Weak: Water.

Toughskins lose Counter, gain Auto-Regen.
Toughskins are now Weak: Wind.
Blade Biters lose Block Arrows, gain Last Berserk.
Blade Biters are now Weak: Wind.

Tonberries lose Counter, gain Reflex.
Masterberries lose Block Arrows and Weapon Atk+, gain Last Haste and Weapon Def+.

Red Panthers and Coeurls gain JMP.
Red Panthers lose Reveal, gain Concentrate.
Coeurls lose Reveal, gain Weapon Atk+.

Malboros and Big Malboros are now immune to debuffs.
Big Malboros lose Block Arrows, gain Auto-Regen.

Floateyes lose Counter and gain Last Quicken.
Ahrimans lose Block Arrows and Weapon Atk+ and Return Magic and Magic Pwr+.

Zombies lose Counter, gain Bonecrusher.
Vampires lose Zombify, Block Arrows, and Weapon Atk+, gain Drain, Auto-Regen, and Magic Pwr+.

Fairies lose Counter and Weapon Def+, gain Reflex and Magic Pwr+.
Titanias lose Block Arrows and Weapon Atk+, gain Last Haste and Weapon Def+.

SPECIAL UNITS

Mewt is now easier to slay during the first battle- have fun!
Totema have had their HP vastly increased.
Totema can have much higher Move/Jump.
Totema now Halve each element.
Battle Queen now is Immune to each element.
Li-Grim now Absorbs each element.
Bosses can no longer be debuffed.
Bosses have increased stats.

GENERAL

Laws have been removed.
All enemy levels scale.
Clan starts with 1000 Gil, rather than 5000.

spoiler: FFTA GG Job Tree

HUMAN

   Soldier-   N/A
   Archer-      N/A
   Thief-      2 Archer Skills
   Black Mage-   2 White Mage Skills
   White Mage-   N/A
   Fighter-   2 Soldier Skills
   Paladin-   3 Fighter Skills, 3 White Mage Skills
   Ninja-      4 Archer Skills, 3 Thief Skills
   Hunter-      4 Archer Skills
   Blue Mage-   3 Black Mage Skills, 3 Soldier Skills
   Illusionist-   4 Black Mage Skills, 4 White Mage Skills

BANGAA

   Warrior-   N/A
   White Monk-   N/A
   Bishop-      3 White Monk Skills
   Defender-   3 Warrior Skills
   Dragoon-   3 Gladiator Skills
   Gladiator-   3 Defender Skills
   Templar-   3 Dragoon and 3 Bishop Skills

NU MOU

   White Mage-   N/A
   Black Mage-   N/A
   Beastmaster-   1 White Mage Skill, 1 Black Mage Skill
   Alchemist-   3 White Mage Skills, 5 Black Mage Skills
   Illusionist-   4 White Mage Skills
   Morpher-   5 Beastmaster Skills
   Sage-      3 Illusionist Skills, 3 Time Mage Skills
   Time Mage-   4 Black Mage Skills

VIERA

   Fencer-      N/A
   White Mage-   N/A
   Archer-      2 Fencer Skills
   Assassin-   4 Archer Skills, 4 Sniper Skills
   Sniper-      3 Archer Skills
   Red Mage-   2 Fencer Skills, 2 White Mage Skills
   Summoner-   4 Elementalist Skills
   Elementalist-   3 White Mage Skills

MOOGLE

   Animist-   N/A
   Thief-      N/A
   Black Mage-   2 Animist Skills
   Gunner-      3 Thief Skills
   Mog Knight-   3 Animist Skills, 2 Thief Skills
   Time Mage-   4 Black Mage Skills
   Juggler-   3 Thief Skills, 3 Mog Knight Skills
   Gadgeteer-   3 Animist Skills, 3 Gunner Skills

Included as a small bonus is a very alpha version of this patch, with the above changes added. Further, you'll need A-Patch to patch this patch to a CLEAN FFTA US ROM. I have also included A-Patch along with the patch. Again, post any and all suggestions/thoughts here!

[Kaijyuu]

Man, I thought this was going to be a crossover hack with Grim Grimoire. Oh well.


As for your idea, looks good so far to me, except the "less saturated graphics" thing. FFT's got a nice style and all, but so does FFTA. I don't consider the bright palette to be a weakness of the game at all.

[Eternal]

It's actually a reference to that game, which FFTA's composer- who also composed FFT- also did. It's also kind of a warning that it's harder than the original.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

How will you make the gadgeteer not suck?

[Eternal]

That will happen once Skills are editable, I hope. I'd need to see what properties each skill can take and fiddle up a theme to go with them to make new skills. I personally hate how they are now.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

What you need to do is use the spreadsheet I made to analyze bytes in the ability data, guess what some of them do, and experiment a bit to confirm your hypothesis.  That's what we did with SaGa Frontier, and we did that without the benefit of spreadsheets, using only text files.  Just look at a single column at a time.  It'sll help if you isolate that column - copy it, the ability names, and the byte you're looking at (0x0A or whatever) to another spreadsheet.

Data analysis is nearly as useful as savestate/ROM corruption, and together they're nearly as good as assembly tracing.

[Eternal]

So now there's a system in place where MP starts at 0 for each unit and you regen 10%/turn. This means you can't spam high level spells unless you use the (very rare) Ethers or Matra Magic.

Also, enemies will now scale with your -highest- level party member. In my testing thus far, this has added a surprising amount of difficulty.

[Eternal]

Uploaded a video showing off some of the smaller features:

[Dome]

Et, I might record a playthrough of this hack if I get some spare time
I'd like to do a "Fixed challenge" (I choose a team of 6 units, and then I never change their jobs)
Any suggestion for a balanced team?

[Eternal]

I suggest for variety's sake that you do one class from each race, with two Humes (counting Marche).

Marche: Paladin. Why not? It's canon (in the radio version of FFTA, at least)

Moogle: Gunner. Range + Free Status? Win. That said, they may have Leg/Arm Aim when I'm done with 'em.

Viera: Summoner. Heavy AoE damage with a fairly versatile skillset. May take some time for them to charge up the MP for their Summons now though.

Nu Mou: White Mage. Their high MP and PWR pool will allow them to heal with ease, particularly upon acquiring Turbo MP late-game. Could go Sage for AoE Raise, but the Summoner has that covered.

Bangaa: Templars, definitely. Haste is awesome, and they have a great pool of equipment they can use. Besides Haste, the rest of their skillset is meh, but that won't matter if you're bashing faces in.

Hume: Blue Mage for the same reason as Summoner- versatility. They can use a huge array of magicks, while being able to hit things for decent damage until they have enough MP.

I'd wait on a walkthrough though until skill/item edits are done. Darth's working on an item editor now (for which I am extremely grateful), so things are progressing about 500x faster than expected.

[Dome]

Looks good, but the Hume blue mage should be changed to something else: Without mp, I have only 1 damage dealer, (Unless buffed, templar is WAY too slow) and I might not be able to get blue magic without a beastmaster...

[Eternal]

Perhaps Fighter? They're pretty powerful. Air Render still needs nerfed. >_>

Hunter are fun too.

[Dome]

Perhaps Fighter? They're pretty powerful. Air Render still needs nerfed. >_>

Hunter are fun too.

Hunter looks good
Some ranged, non magical damage looks good
Now I just need to decide the secondary skillsets...

[UltimagaWeapon]

IMO I think FFTA has more hacking options than FFT to make it more fun.

I don't think it would be possible to make spells have charge time right? Since it's not there in the first place.

[Eternal]

Probably could do it with extreme ASM, but I'm not counting on that at all.

[Dome]

Nah, leave spells without Charge time
You already nerfed them making everyone start with 0 mp xD

[Eternal]

Item changes are (mostly) finished. Just discussing some other minor tweaks to them.

[Pata Hikari]

Removing Laws is a terrible idea.

[Eternal]

Care to elaborate why? Darth and I were considering a version with and without laws anyways.

[Dome]

Removing Laws is a terrible idea.

I strongly disagree
Laws are a good idea, but they are terribly implemented